~~~~
Lecture 1: Historians' Masterpiece
Voiceover: More than two thousand years ago, after suffering great humiliation, a literati endured humiliation and completed a great historical work with his soul and flesh and blood. In the following thousands of years, this great work was like a shining pearl, and like a towering monument, standing in the long river of Chinese literature and history, which later generations cannot surpass and cannot reach. This person is Sima Qian, and this historical work is "Records of the Grand Historian". "Records of the Grand Historian" is the first of the twenty-four histories. It records about two thousand years from Huangdi to Emperor Wu of Han. Among the fine works of traditional Chinese studies in my country, only "Records of the Grand Historian" is an unparalleled "encyclopedia"
"The Complete Book". Mr. Lu Xun called "Records of the Grand Historian" "a masterpiece of historians, and a Li Sao without rhyme". Such a great work, Sima Qian, was originally an ordinary historian in the Western Han Dynasty. It was nothing special among the numerous historians in our feudal society. But why did Sima Qian later write such a great historical masterpiece like "Records of the Grand Historian"? What changed Sima Qian's life trajectory? Professor Wang Liqun of Henan University led us through thousands of years of historical time, into the inner world of the historical sage Sima Qian, and read a great general historical masterpiece, and Wang Liqun of the large-scale program of "Hundred Schools of Thoughts" reading the historian's masterpiece of "Records of the Grand Historian".
Hello everyone, from today on, we will start reading "Records of the Grand Historian". "Records of the Grand Historian" pioneered the Chinese historical literature. Before "Records of the Grand Historian", there were only two types of Chinese history books. One was chronological, which was recorded by the age. The most famous of them were "Spring and Autumn Annals", such as "Zuo Zhuan", which was chronological; the other was national history, which recorded history on time and in the country, such as "Mandarin" and "Warring States Strategy". There was no general history of the chronological style. The so-called "Records of the Grand Historian" was the first general history of the chronological style in China. This point had a great influence on later generations, so since "Records of the Grand Historian", all the official history of China, that is, what we often say, are chronological styles. However, "Records of the Grand Historian" is the general history of the chronological style of the chronological style, and other histories are chronological and biography, which is the history of one dynasty and one dynasty.
Although "Records of the Grand Historian" and other historical books are both twenty-four histories, there are big differences.
First, "Records of the Grand Historian" is full of love and hate, which is not available to other historical books. Originally, a historian only requires objective and fair recording of history, and does not require expressing feelings. However, when "Records of the Grand Historian" records characters, it often brings the author's own strong love and hate. He especially treats some tragic figures, such as "The Book of Xiang Yu" writing about Xiang Yu and "The Biography of General Li" writing about Li Guang. The description of these characters can be said to be a tragic song written by a generous and heart-stirring song, which is very touching.
The second feature of "Records of the Grand Historian" is that it incorporates many literary techniques into the description of characters. For example, "Hongmen Banquet" and "Hongmen Banquet" have always been selected as the traditional textbook for our high school Chinese textbooks for more than half a century. "Hongmen Banquet" is simply a novel.
Third, "Records of the Grand Historian" has filled the gap in the history of many figures in the history of our Chinese nation. In other words, if there were no "Records of the Grand Historian", we would not know many great men of our Chinese nation today. For example, Confucius, the author of "The Analects of Confucius", Sima Qian, wrote a "The Family of Confucius" in the middle of "Records of the Grand Historian", which completely outlined Confucius' life for the first time. This is the first and most authoritative biography of Confucius so far. "Records of the Grand Historian" also incorporates the author's criticism of feudal emperors, which is even more unsimplified. We can give two examples. Sima Qian's criticism in "Records of the Grand Historian" is the most acute.
There are two people, one is Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, and the second is Emperor Wu of Han, who lived in Sima Qian. It is amazing that a historian dares to criticize the founding emperor and his immediate superior. He dares not write without courage. Sima Qian not only writes about his deeds when Emperor Wu of Han recruits talents and eventually achieves great achievements, but also writes about Liu Bang's narrow-mindedness, killing heroes, and vulgar language, and many bad records of him. As for the revelation of Emperor Wu of Han, there are many. This is the spirit of the recorded and critical spirit of "Records of the Grand Historian". Who completed such a great historical work? It was Sima Qian.
Sima Qian's life experience is actually not special. He was a family of historians. He traveled thousands of miles, read thousands of books, and studied with some famous teachers at that time. These were all possessed by some ordinary historians at that time. So what happened that made Sima Qian complete a great change, from an ordinary historian to a great historian? It is fate.
Voiceover: In 145 BC, Sima Qian was born in an ordinary family of historians. His father Sima Tan was a historian during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. After Sima Tan's death, Sima Qian inherited his father's position and continued to serve as a historian in the dynasty of Emperor Wu of Han. In this case, Sima Qian read a large number of palace books, all of which were prepared for the writing of "Records of the Grand Historian". However, it is not surprising that historians with such family studies, such experiences, and such conditions were in the feudal society of China. At best, Sima Qian was just an ordinary historian. So, what incident made Sima Qian complete the transformation from an ordinary historian to a great historian?
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in 99 BC, due to diplomatic failure, the relationship between the Han and the Huns became tense again. The battle between the Han Dynasty and the Huns reopened. Emperor Wu of Han sent his favorite concubine, Mrs. Li, the elder brother of Mrs. Li, to lead troops to attack the Huns. However, this war with the Huns triggered a change in the fate of Sima Qian. So what happened in the battle with the Huns changed the fate of Sima Qian? This incident occurred in the second year of Tianhan of Emperor Wu of Han, that is, in 99 BC. In this year, Emperor Wu of Han sent a general named Li Guangli, who was the elder brother of Mrs. Li, one of the most favored concubines of Emperor Wu of Han. He was the elder brother of Mrs. Li, his favorite concubine, and asked Li Guangli to lead the army to attack the Huns. Of course, Emperor Wu of Han was the subjective purpose of Li Guangli to be granted a marquis through military merits. At the same time, in order to ensure the smooth success of Li Guangli's participation in the army.
Emperor Wu of Han asked a famous general at that time to ask Li Ling to provide logistics support for Li Guangli. The record in the record of the Grand Historian was called "couplets", which means to provide logistics support. However, Li Ling was unwilling to do this. Li Ling publicly proposed that he was willing to take his 5,000 infantry to go out alone to disperse the military pressure of the Huns on Li Guangli. This incident made Emperor Wu of Han very dissatisfied. Emperor Wu felt that Li Ling was too disrespectful, so he told Li Ling that I had no extra cavalry to give you. The implication was that if you want to go out, you should take your 5,000 infantry to go out. In this case, Li Ling took his 5,000 infantry to go out. Of course, Li Ling started the expedition smoothly and encountered no resistance. Moreover, Li Ling immediately sent someone back, drew a map, and came back to report the smooth progress to Emperor Wu of Han. Emperor Wu was also very happy.
But the situation changed dramatically later, because Li Ling's 5,000 infantry met the main force of the 30,000 Xiongnu led by the Great Shanyu of the Xiongnu. Li Ling was indeed very capable. Li Ling's 5,000 infantry killed thousands of people of the Great Shanyu's 30,000 army. Although the Great Shanyu's military strength was six times that of Li Ling, he could not take advantage of it. Therefore, the Xiongnu's Shanyu felt that Li Ling's infantry was not simple. He was angry because he felt that my 30,000 people could not defeat your 5,000 people, and he couldn't get over it. In an emergency, he transferred 80,000 to the left and right wise kings.
The army, plus the army of the Great Shanyu, had a total of 110,000 cavalry, and dealt with Li Ling's 5,000 infantry. In this case, Li Ling retreated and became more and more brave. In the end, the Great Shanyu, who fought to the Huns, felt that the war could not continue. The Great Shanyu was preparing to withdraw his troops, but at this moment, an unexpected emergency occurred. This incident was that Li Ling had a subordinate who was insulted by his superiors. In anger, he defected to the Xiongs, and then reported to Li Ling's army.
An important top-secret military information. First, Li Ling has no support troops, you can fight with confidence, he has no support. Second, the reason why Li Ling's infantry can fight is mainly because he has a bow and arrow that can be fired continuously, called a crossbow machine. It is an upgraded and modified version of bow and arrow. This arrow is fired with a machine and can be fired continuously, saying that his crossbow machine's arrow is about to be used up. In this way, the Xiongnu Shanyu felt hope and would not withdraw his troops, and then concentrated his army to launch a general attack on Li Ling. Moreover, Li
Ling's army was marching in the valley at that time. The Shanyu army and the Xiongnu army threw this big rock into the valley on the mountains on both sides, so Li Ling's remaining 3,000 soldiers suffered heavy casualties. The battle could not be fought and the arrows were gone. So in this case, Li Ling felt that he could not fight and broke through. When he broke through, only 400 of his 3,000 soldiers fled back. Li Ling's deputy was killed, and Li Ling was captured and surrendered. This is the very famous Li Ling incident in history.
When the news of Li Ling's defeat and surrender reached Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Wu of Han was furious and very angry. When the ministers saw the emperor angry, the public opinion was one-sided, and the ministers demanded severe punishment of Li Ling. It was at this time that Emperor Wu of Han saw Sima Qian beside him, because Sima Qian was going to participate when Sima Qian was the Grand Historian and the court discussed. He asked Sima Qian what he thought. Sima Qian was very angry when he saw Emperor Wu. In order to leniently upset Emperor Wu of Han, Sima Qian said three points: First, Li Ling
He is a national soldier. The national trainer is the best talent in a country and is called a national trainer. Li Ling is a national trainer. He is determined to serve the country. This is the first point. Second point, Li Ling fought with the Xiongnu Shanyu for more than ten days with 5,000 infantrymen and retreated. The enemies he killed far exceeded his 5,000 infantrymen. The contribution he made was enough to comfort the world. Third, Sima Qian believed that Sima Qian was not a real surrender, but a fake surrender. If Li Ling had the opportunity in the future, he would definitely find an opportunity to repay the Han Dynasty.
Originally, Sima Qian said these words to refute Emperor Wu of Han and also exonerate Li Ling. However, what he never expected was that the words he had just come to the ground. Emperor Wu of Han was furious and immediately put Sima Qian in prison, which was to falsely accusing the emperor. This was a very serious crime. The decision to deal with the crime of false sin, the death penalty. Sima Qian was suddenly thrown into death prison because of Li Ling's disaster and sentenced to death.
According to the regulations of the Han Dynasty, there are three choices for those sentenced to death: First, being punished by the law is to wait for execution; Second, redeeming life with money means paying 500,000 yuan to avoid death; Third, accepting castration, castration means castration of a man's reproductive organs, which is called castration. Sima Qian has been writing "Records of the Grand Historian" for a period of time. If he accepts the death penalty at this time, "Records of the Grand Historian" will be over and "Records of the Grand Historian" will not be written. In this case, Sima Qian cannot accept the death penalty, so there are two ways left to accept the death penalty. First, take money, and second, accept castration. Although Sima Qian is the Grand Historian, he is often with the emperor, he is a middle- and low-income income. Sima Qian's family has no money.
, if you can't afford 500,000, there is only one way left. You don't want to die, and you don't have money, there is one way left - castration. So Sima Qian finally accepted castration in order to complete the "Records of the Grand Historian". This incident is what we call the biggest event that influenced Sima Qian and changed Sima Qian's life - the Li Ling incident. Voiceover: Li Ling's disaster was undoubtedly a major blow to Sima Qian. Sima Qian chose castration in despair. Catastrophe was not only cruel corporal punishment, but also a rough trampling on spirit and dignity. During the Western Han Dynasty, many people were willing to die and were unwilling to accept castration. So what does choosing castration mean to Sima Qian? What changes will happen in his life? The Li Ling incident had a great impact on Sima Qian.
First, his identity is alternative. Sima Qian's original identity was originally an official of the central government. After receiving castration, he became a eunuch who was not a eunuch. This was a big blow to Sima Qian because his identity changed. First, he became an alternative to a man, he was not a man. Second, he became an alternative to a scholar and official, and he could not be accepted by the scholar and official class. Third, he became an alternative to a cultural person, that is, Sima Qian was originally a cultural person, a scholar and a scholar. But now, the group he originally belonged to fired him, did not recognize him as a man, did not recognize him as a cultural person, and did not recognize him as a scholar and official. This was a huge blow to Sima Qian, which is the first point.
The second point is lifelong humiliation. When Sima Qian talked about the pain of accepting castration, he said a few very painful words. He said that no evil is more ugly than humiliation, and no criticism is more important than castration. He said that a person’s biggest mistake in living in the world is insulting your ancestors. He said that a person’s biggest mistake in living in society is that you are accused of accepting castration. So Sima Qian later talked about his famous letter, called “The Book of Return to Ren An”, also called “The Book of Return to Ren Shaoqing”, in which he talked about the pain after receiving castration. He said
It is "the intestines are nine times a day", which says that the intestines need to rotate many times a day. "If you live, you will die. If you leave, you will not know what to do." He said that when you sit at home, you will be in a daze and don't know where to go after you go out. "Every time I think of this shame, sweat will always be wet on my back." When I think of the pain of being castrated, the cold sweat on my back immediately seeped out, soaking all his clothes and clothes on my back, so he felt that after receiving castration, this shame and his life were accompanied. So Sima Qian felt that this shame was too great, and this was the second point.
Third, talent and fate are contrary to each other. Sima Qian is a very talented person, but the fate of Li Ling's disaster caused a sharp conflict with his own life. So he said that he himself, even if he is easy-going, and if he is like Youyi, it means that I have talent like Heshi Bi and Suihouzhu. Even if I am like the ancient wise man Xu You and Boyi, such a noble nobleman, how do others think of me? He regards me as worthless. "You can't be proud of it." This principle is very simple, because humans are a social animal, and human sociality is human.
A fundamental difference from animals. As a social person, he must be recognized by society. After Sima Qian accepted the castration, the biggest point was that he was not recognized by this society. Therefore, the price of Sima Qian's preservation of his life was to pay the dignity of a person, which was a painful price. So after receiving the castration, Sima Qian, as a man, died, and Sima Qian, as a feudal scholar, also died, but the Taishi Gong, who inspired the words in "Records of the Grand Historian", was reborn. This is a historic transformation of Sima Qian.
Voiceover: During the Western Han Dynasty, castration was a cruel double punishment of the spirit and the body. The person who was punished was humiliated for life, and life was worse than death. Even Sima Qian, who is strong-willed and ambitious, would sweat and wear clothes whenever he thinks of the shame of being castrated. It can be imagined how cruel punishment it is. Sima Qian, who was receiving castration, is already forty-seven years old. The writing of "Records of the Grand Historian" has been underway for a while. So after receiving the dual torture of spirit and body, Sima Qian, who is about to enter the year of knowing destiny, has a clear understanding of life and society?
After receiving the castration, Sima Qian was forced to view people, life, and history from the lowest social identity of a society that people looked down upon. Therefore, his evaluation of historical figures and his evaluation of characters before he accepted the castration, and other historians of the Twenty-Four Histories had a fundamental change. So we can talk about this change from several aspects.
First, it changed Sima Qian's view of life and death. We all know that Sima Qian said a few very famous words, saying, "A person has death, death is heavier than Mount Tai, or less than a feather." Sima Qian's view on life and death took a fundamental change before and after the disaster of Li Ling. For example, when we look at "Records of the Grand Historian", there is an article in the middle of "Records of the Grand Historian", which is called "Biography of Ji Bu", which describes a general under Xiang Yu. This man was a powerful general under Xiang Yu and defeated Liu Bang many times, so Liu Bang hated him very much. After Xiang Yu committed suicide, Liu Bang kept wanting Ji Bu and ordered whoever wanted to hide Ji Bu would barbarize the three tribes. Ji Bu did not
I had a way to join a family first, and later this family resold him to the home of a hero Guo family (that should be the Zhu family). The Guo family knew that the slave he bought was Ji Bu, and then the Guo family (Zhu family) went to the capital to find Liu Bang's most trusted servant, Xiahou Ying, and Teng Gong, the driver who drove the car for Liu Bang. Then he said something to Mr. Teng, saying that after Liu Bang became the monarch, can you kill all the ministers under Xiang Yu? It's impossible, and you just got the monarch, and you insisted on killing Ji Bu in order to avenge your own personal grudges. If you really force Ji Bu to be anxious, then
Either he fled to the north to the Xiongnu, or he ran to the south to Nanyue, wouldn’t you be using a hero to support your enemy? After saying this, Mr. Teng believed very much and believed in the words of the Guo family (Zhu family). He used this to persuade Liu Bang. After hearing this advice, he pardoned Ji Bu. Ji Bu became a doctor in Liu Bang's dynasty. When he arrived at Emperor Hui, Ji Bu became a general of Zhonghuang. When he arrived at Emperor Wen, Ji Bu became a prefect. Ji Bu later became a famous minister in the founding of the Western Han Dynasty. When Sima Qian finally talked about Ji Bu, he was very moved. Ji Bu was like a general when Xiang Yu was alive. He finally felt that Ji Bu was like a general.
He did not feel ashamed of being a slave to others because he felt that he was talented and could not be wasted in vain. So he survived with humiliation and heavy burdens. Sima Qian's understanding of Ji Bu and his evaluation of Ji Bu was actually after he experienced the disaster of Li Ling, and he could correctly evaluate Ji Bu. So when we read history books and read "Records of the Grand Historian", if we want to truly understand "Records of the Grand Historian", we must understand life and society. The deeper we understand life and society, the deeper we can understand "Records of the Grand Historian".
Another point is that there is a very important reason why Sima Qian accepted the castration because his family had no money. If he had money, Sima Qian was not ashamed. So after the Li Ling incident, Sima Qian had a new view on money. So Sima Qian felt that it is human nature to pursue wealth, and there is no fault, as long as it is taken in a proper way. Therefore, Sima Qian wrote a special article called "Biography of Merchants" in "Records of the Grand Historian". In "Biography of Merchants", he fully affirmed the legitimacy of people's pursuit of wealth. So Sima Qian gave many examples, the most famous one was a passage, saying, "The world is the best.
The bustling is for profit; the bustling world is for profit." Why do people in the world run around for the bustling? They are all for "profit". He said that from the princes and kings to the households, people are pursuing profit. It is not wrong to pursue profit itself, but the wrong thing is just your improper means of pursuing profit. And this view was summarized by Sima Qian from his painful lessons. Therefore, Sima Qian realized more than two thousand years ago that the legitimacy of people pursuing material interests is very great. We should thank Sima Qian and "Records of the Grand Historian".
Again
�
�
�
�
�
�
The disaster of Li Ling
�
Completely changed Sima
�
Evaluation of historical figures
�
�
�
�
�
by
�
�
Historical Records
�
�
The evaluation of many characters is particularly
�
Deep and profound
�
�
We can show
�
An example
�
�
�
�
�
Historical Records
�
�
�全�
�
Called
�
�
�Xiao Xiangguo Family
�
�
�
�
�
�Write Liu�
�
�The subordinates
�
An important official named Xiao He
�
�
�
Xiao He is Liu
�
��
�
Trusted minister
�
�
But in the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu
�
During the rebellion of Chen Xi
�
�
�
�
�Empress Lu said
�
�Xin colluded with Chen Xi to rebel
�
�
�成�
�
� Letter
�
It's
�
�
�
When Liu
�
�De
�
�Empress Lü
�
Leave
�
After the letter
�
�
�Liu�
�
Add now
�
Xiao He
�
�
�Add to Xiao He
�
Five thousand households
�
�
��
�
�And sending five hundred miles of soldiers to Xiao He
�
�
�
Xiao He is very happy
�
�
�Cheering banquets for civil and military officials
�
�
�
But at this moment
�
�
�
�
�全�
�
personal
�
�
�This person is called Zhaoping
�
�
He went to Xiao He's banquet
�
Go up and make him feel excited
�
�
�Don't be mourned for him
�
�
�
Say the Emperor suppressed the rebellion outside
�
�
You don't
�
What a special contribution
�
�
�It's
�
To add to you
�
�
�
It's because the emperor is
�
I will not trust you in the future
�
�
�
This adds
�
After that
�
Emperor Dan is back
�
�Disclaimer
�
Get rid of you
�
�
Xiao He drank after hearing this
�
Don't drink anymore
�
�
Drive all the guests away
�
�
�Not found
�
A solution
�
�
�
This person thought for him
�
A solution
�
�
Say you
�
What to do
�
�
�
You
�
Want to resolve this crisis
�
�
��
�
You only have
�
What to do
�
�
Donate all your property in your home
�
�
�
Xiao He has no choice
�
�
I just donated all my wealth to Liu
�
As military expenses
�
�
branch
�
�
�
This memorial when Xiao He donated all his family's wealth
�
�
To Liu
�
�In the future
�
�
Sima
�
Written five words
�
Emperor Gao was overjoyed
�
�
�
�
�
Liu Emperor Gaozu of Han
�
�I am very happy to see Xiao He's memorial
�
�
These five words are hard-won
�
�
These five are very profound
�
All
�
�
The Emperor of the Kingdom
�
�
Country
�
The suspicion of the minister is revealed
�
�Thank you
�
�
�
Liu
�
�Yes
�
�
Suspected of anyone
�
�
But Liu
�
It shouldn't be
�
�
Suspected Xiao He
�
�
�
Xiao He was the last one
�
Liu
�
It's in
�
County
�
�
When Xiao He is
�
The time of a deputy county-level cadre
�
�
�
�
�Liu�
�
�It's still the head of Sishui Pavilion
�
�
�Xiao He took good care of him at that time
�
�
�
From Liu
�
After the rise of the army
�
�
Xiao He
�
�
�
Liu
�
�
�
�
�
�
�
And Xiao He is not
�
Personal
�
�
�
He is leading
�
People of the whole clan
�
�
�
Liu
�
Conquer the world
�
�
�
�
�
With Liu
�
After defeating the world
�
On
�
Reward
�
�
The ministers are in charge
�
Talk about Cao
�
�
�
Laudie
�
�
�
�It should be Cao
�
First
�
�
�
�
Liu
�
�Not right
�
�
It should be
�
Xiao He
�
�
�
Liu
�
�It was also rated at that time
�
A very famous example
�
�
He said you can see
�
�
�
Is there a hunter?
�
�
�
When hunting
�
�The Hunter
�
�
And hunting dogs
�
�
��
�
A hunting dog is hunting for prey
�
�
�
You
�
There is attacking outside
�
No general who plunders shall be
�
A hunting dog
�
�
��
�
You call me
�
dog
�
�
�
�
�
��
�
Xiao He was instructing the hunting dog to chase him
�
�The hunter of prey
�
�
His name is
�
people
�
�
�
Liu
�
Just put forward this theory
�
�
Say Xiao He is
�
people
�
�
�Cao�
�
These people are
�
dog
�
�
��
�
Compared with humans
�
The
�
What a big deal
�
�
�
Of course human
�
Lao Da
�
�
�
�
�
With Xiao Hedi
�
�
�
�Cao�
�
second
�
�
�
So
�
Xiao He
�
�
�Liu�
�
�Late life
�
Yet he was suspicious
�
�
��
�
Sima
�
Just put this Liu
�
Yes
�
My minister's suspicion has been revealed
�
�
�
Second
�
Four
�
Read it
�
�
No
�
A historian can
�
Like Sima
�
This way
�
It is very clear
�
�
The secret analysis of the inner emperor of the country
�
This is clear
�
�
�
Among them
�
A very heavy
�
The
�
Because it was because of the Li Ling incident
�
�
Sima
�
The autocracy against the emperor
�
�
�Cruelty to the Emperor
�
�
�Get a new understanding
�
�
�
Emperor Wu of Han
�
�
The Li Ling incident killed Sima
�
�
�
�He
�
Change Sima
�
The person
�
Trajectory
�
�
�
at the same time
�
�
The actions of Emperor Wu of Han
�
�
�
Just go
�
All
�
�
The great historian and
�
Department
�
�
Great history
�
do
�
�
Historical Records
�
�
�
�
�
�
�
�
�
�
�
�Our reading
�
�
Historical Records
�
�
From the bottom
�
Talk
�
�
beginning
�
�
Read
�
�
Historical Records
�
�
�From Sima
�
The person
�
Relationship
�
The close Emperor Wu of Han
�
�
Let's start
�
�
�
Emperor Wu of Han was
�
All
�
What kind of person
�
�
He is
�
What arriving at the peak of power
�
�
�Please see the next episode
�
�
�The palace corner�
�
�
�
�
�
�
�
�
Lecture 2: Palace Competition
Voiceover: Emperor Wu of Han was the last emperor recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian" and the emperor with the closest relationship with Sima Qian. It was because of Emperor Wu of Han and Sima Qian's life undergoing major changes. So, what is Sima Qian's view of this controversial Emperor Wu of Han? How did he record and evaluate his immediate boss in "Records of the Grand Historian"? For later generations, how should we evaluate Emperor Wu of Han? Starting today, Professor Wang Liqun of Henan University will lead us to clear away the fog of history, start with the Emperor Wu of Han recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian" and read the general historical masterpiece of "Records of the Grand Historian" and carefully taste the distinctive characters in Sima Qian's writings.
Starting from today, let’s talk about Emperor Wu of Han. Emperor Wu of Han was a very important figure among the most popular figures in the Han Dynasty. In Chinese history, he created six firsts. The first is the first emperor to use Confucianism to unify Chinese thought and culture; the second is the first emperor to establish the Imperial Academy and cultivate talents; the third is the first emperor to vigorously expand China's territory; the fourth is the first emperor to open the Western Regions; the fifth is the first emperor to use the emperor's reign to be used to era; the sixth is the first emperor to criticize himself in the form of a self-criticism. Therefore, Emperor Wu of Han, who has been a feudal emperor for more than two thousand years in China, was a very important figure.
We talked about his six firsts above. These six firsts, especially he abolished all schools of thought and used Confucianism as the ruling thought of the country, which has influenced for more than two thousand years. To this day, our society is still deeply influenced by Confucianism. The founder is Emperor Wu of Han. Because he was reigned for a long time, he created so many firsts, and people's evaluations vary greatly. Some people say he is a talented person, while others say he is a powerful man. Some say he has made great contributions, while others say he is extremely dictatorial. What kind of monarch is he? What kind of emperor is Emperor Wu of Han who has been so untold for more than two thousand years? Let's talk about him slowly.
Emperor Wu of Han was born in the first year of Emperor Jing of Han. When Emperor Jing of Han, I just mentioned that it was the first Emperor Wu of Han to use the emperor's reign to the era. Before Emperor Wu of Han, the emperor did not use the emperor's reign, and the emperor had no reign, so Emperor Jing of Han did not have the reign. So today we look at the historical records of Emperor Jing of Han. How many years, middle years, and then years, are based on the front, middle and back. In the first year of Emperor Jing of Han, in 156 BC, the tenth year of Emperor Jing of Han was born, named Tao, Liu Zi. Liu Zi ranked tenth among Emperor Jing of Han, and he belonged to the tenth sons of Emperor Jing of Han. We know that Emperor Jing of Han was a high-yielding emperor. He was one of the tenth sons of Emperor Jing of Han.
There were fourteen sons in total, much more than Liu Bang's eight sons. The fourteen sons were from six concubines and were born by six mothers. Among them, Wang Meiren, the mother of Emperor Wu of Han, Wang Meiren gave birth to one. Tang Ji, a concubine named Tang gave birth to one, these two. Mrs. Jia gave birth to two, one of which we will continue to mention later. Mrs. Jia gave birth to two sons. One of them was named King of Zhongtong Jing, which is Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing. Everyone knows that Liu Bei said that when he said that when he was the Uncle Liu, he would chase him where he would follow him as soon as he traced his royal bloodline? He chased him to the son of Emperor Jing of Han, the King of Zhongshan Jing.
King Jing, do you know how many sons he has? King Jing of Zhongshan has more than 120 sons. We don’t know what descendants Liu Bei is from which son, King Jing of Zhongshan. But just that, Emperor Liu made a relative to Emperor Jing of Han, the son of Emperor Jing of Han. So people say that the Shu Han regime emphasizes its orthodox status. In fact, we say that Emperor Jing of Han is already prolific enough. With fourteen sons, King Jing of Zhongshan is even more powerful, and he gave birth to more than 120 sons. There are two other concubines, Li Ji and Cheng Ji each gave birth to three sons. Finally, there is the mother of Emperor Wu of Han. She has a sister named Wang Eryu, and she also sent it to Taizhang. They are two sisters.
All of them were Emperor Jing's concubines, and she gave birth to four sons. So in this way, Emperor Jing of Han had fourteen sons. Among these fourteen sons, Emperor Wu of Han was not ranked high. The ten emperors, in the ancient feudal society of China, everyone knows that there are two principles. One is called Li Zhen and the other is called Li Chang. This obvious Liu Yu is not among them. How did he jump from the ten emperors to the crown prince? This involves five women. His transformation from the ten emperors to the crown prince is the final result of the five women's competition. So who are these five women and how they compete for the position of this crown prince, let's introduce them one by one.
Voiceover: In the inheritance system of emperors in ancient Chinese feudal society, it was generally the legitimate and eldest son who were crowned as the crown prince. Liu Yu, who ranked tenth, would not be his turn to be crown prince no matter what. Since the crown prince could not be, let alone the emperor, but history would also make jokes. Liu Yu became the emperor. So why did fate favor this tenth Liu Yu? Are the nine brothers above Liu Yu willing to automatically give up the position of crown prince? In Mr. Wang Liqun's years of study of "Records of the Grand Historian", who thought that the young Liu Yu had pushed the throne of the emperor? How did Sima Qian record this complicated process in "Records of the Grand Historian-Family Family"?
The first woman, Empress Bo, was the first empress of Emperor Jing of Han. Empress Bo was designated by his grandmother when Emperor Jing of Han became the crown prince.
Who is his grandmother? His grandmother is Empress Dowager Bo. This Empress Dowager Bo turned out to be a concubine of Wei Bao, the King of Wei Bao, and he was one of his concubines. Later, Wei Bao was defeated by Liu Bang, and Wei Bao was finally killed in Xingyang. After Wei Bao was killed, his concubine Bo Ji was taken in by Liu Bang. However, when Liu Bang first took her in, she was very low and she was just a female worker, an ordinary female worker. Later, Liu Bang discovered that this female worker, Bo Ji, was still very beautiful in an unexpected event.
, so she picked her out of the ranks of female workers and selected her into her own harem. After being selected into the harem, Liu Bang did not favor this Bo Ji because there were more women in Liu Bang's harem, two of whom were Bo Ji's good friends back then. These two women laughed at this Bo Ji while chatting together. Because the three of them were very good when they were young, they said that no matter who was favored by the emperor in the future, they must not forget the other two partners. As a result, they were favored by Liu Bang one after another, so she
When the two of them talked about Bo Ji, they were laughing at him. Liu Bang heard this. When Liu Bang heard it, he asked what was going on. The two concubines told him about this story. After that, Liu Bang felt very sympathetic to Bo Ji. He thought that the three of them were very good, and the two were favored. Only Bo Ji was still in the harem, so he summoned Bo Ji and asked her to sleep with her. Bo Ji turned out to be unknown in the harem. With such an opportunity, she was also a very unrespected person.
.But she was very good at talking after seeing Liu Bang that night. She said that I dreamed of Canglong's belly last night, but I dreamed of a dragon on my stomach. Originally, Liu Bang summoned her because she felt sorry for her, but when she saw Liu Bang, she said this, we don't know whether Bo Ji was true or false. However, after these words, Liu Bang was very happy. Because of this night stand, Bo Ji was very lucky, so she became pregnant. She was born as Liu Heng, the fourth son of Liu Bang's eight sons, and this was her first lucky.
What is the second luck? When Liu Bang was alive, Liu Bang never summoned this Bo Ji except to summon her this time. Therefore, Empress Lu knew that among the many concubines in Liu Bang's harem, this Bo Ji was the least favored person. So as soon as Liu Bang died and Empress Lu took power, she locked all the concubines Liu Bang favored back then in the palace, and no one was allowed to come out, but Bo Ji let her go. She thought she was an insignificant person, so she let her go, where was she let her go? She lived with her son, Liu Heng, the son of the previous dynasty, which was her second luck.
The third lucky thing is that when Empress Lu persecuted the princes of the Liu surname in the seventh year of Gaohou, Liu Heng escaped. This was what we talked about in the "Empress Lu" series. Of course, Liu Heng escaped and Bo Ji also escaped. This is the third lucky.
The fourth luck, we talked about the episode "The Elimination of Zhulu" that King Liu Xiang of Qi raised an army, Zhou Bo, Chen Ping, and Liu Zhang destroyed all Zhulu in the capital. Originally, who was the one who destroyed Zhulu was the one who made the greatest contribution? It was King Liu Xiang of Qi and his younger brother Liu Zhang who made the greatest contribution, but in the end, the ministers were unwilling to establish Liu Xiang and Liu Zhang. Because Liu Xiang and Liu Zhang were the sons of Liu Fei, they were very young and capable, and the ministers felt that it was inconvenient to control them after they came to power. The unknown Dai King Liu Heng, the ministers thought he was very honest and easy to control, so they took Liu Hengli for the successor emperor, and he was Emperor Wen of Han. So the fourth lucky point was that Bo Ji's son, when others were expelling Zhulu and fighting bloody battles, he rested in Dai. When the other person had finished eliminating Zhulu, he was welcomed back to become the emperor.
Bo Ji was very lucky to be the Empress Dowager, but Bo Ji, who became the Empress Dowager, began to change. The first thing she thought of was to make her family rich. In this regard, she almost had the same problem as Empress Lu. Her son, she could no longer control her, so she considered her grandson, her grandson, and her grandson was the crown prince at that time. When Emperor Jing of Han was the crown prince, Empress Dowager Bo chose a crown princess for her grandson, and chose the granddaughter of their Bo family.
What is the prospect of the Crown Princess? The Crown Prince will become the emperor in the future, and the Crown Prince's concubine will be the queen in the future. She has been the queen, and she knows that the queen is very noble, and she also wants her granddaughter to be the queen, and she has the same problem with Empress Lu. Empress Lu did not give the special partner of the Liu family with the surname Lu, but Liu Lu's partner. The same is true for this Empress Dowager Bo. She picked out the granddaughter of her Bo family to make this Liu Bo. In fact, Emperor Jing of Han did not like the one she chose for him.
The concubine, but there is no way, this is the old empress. In that era, if he did not obey, he might have lost the position of crown prince, so he accepted it. After Emperor Jing of Han ascended the throne, the princess was promoted to the queen naturally, which was Empress Bo. This Empress Bo was indeed in poor life. Because Empress Bo gave Emperor Jing of Han as the crown princess, and later promoted to the queen, there were no children during the period when she was promoted to the queen. We just introduced that Emperor Jing of Han was fourteen sons, from six concubines
, Only this authentic queen has no son. A genuine queen has no prince. And six concubines have fourteen sons, which brings a very complicated situation. This formed such a situation in the palace of Emperor Jing of Han. The queen has no sons, while the other six concubines have fourteen sons. So can the position of this queen be maintained for a long time? After all, Emperor Jing of Han wanted to establish a crown prince after he ascended the throne, so this palace dispute was triggered because the queen had no sons.
Voiceover: Mr. Wang Liqun just said that during the reign of Emperor Jing of Han, Emperor Jing did not like the Queen Bo assigned by his grandmother, which led to the Queen Bo without favor or son. In this way, Emperor Jing of Han had the possibility of being made the crown prince. Mr. Wang Liqun believed that according to the feudal emperor inheritance system, the establishment of the crown prince was generally the establishment of the legitimate and the chief. Liu Yu, the tenth-ranked Liu Yu, had no hope of being made the crown prince at all. So how would the fate of the young Liu Yu develop? Who would be the second woman who affected the fate of the young Liu Yu?
The second woman, Wang Zhi. Wang Zhi is the biological mother of Emperor Wu of Han. This woman is a very critical woman who influenced Emperor Wu of Han to take the position of emperor. This woman's experience is unusual.
Let’s talk about Wang Zhi, first of all, start with Wang Zhi’s mother. Wang Zhi’s mother is Zang'er, and the historical records are called Zang'er. Who is Zang'er? Zang'er was when Xiang Yu enfeoffed the 18 princes and kings of Yan, Zang'er, once a title of King of Yan Zang Tu. King of Yan Zang Tu was one of the 18 princes and kings conferred by Xiang Yu. Later, he surrendered to the Han Dynasty. In the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, Zang Tu rebelled again and was pacified by Liu Bang, so the Zang Tu family disappeared. Zang'er was the granddaughter of King of Yan Zang Tu. She was the granddaughter of King of Yan. Her family once had a prominent past. Moreover, Zang'er's marriage experience was also very bumpy. Zang'er's first husband was married to a family named Wang. This person was named Wang Zhong, and married to Wang Zhong's family. After Zang'er married Wang Zhong, he gave birth to three children, a boy Wang Xin, two daughters, Wang Xiao and Wang Erwei. Wang Xiao was later me
The birth mother of Emperor Wu of Han mentioned, but after giving birth to a son and two daughters, it was very unfortunate that Zang'er's husband Wang Zhong died. This led to Zang'er remarrying again. After remarrying, Zang'er married to whom Zang'er's family? After remarrying, she gave birth to two sons, Tian Fu and Tian Sheng. Everyone knows in the story of "The Great Emperor of Han Wu", that there is a prime minister Tian Fu, which is this Tian Fu. He gave birth to two sons, one Tian Fu and the other Tian Sheng. In this way, Zang'er married twice and gave birth to five children. From Zang'er's remarrying, we can see that the customs of the Han Dynasty were relatively relaxed for women's marriage, and women remarrying casually. This loss of husband, divorce, and remarrying is very common, and Zang'er's view of marriage has affected her guidance on her daughter's marriage and her daughter's grasp of marriage.
In her early years, Wang Shi was married under the auspices of her mother. Where did she marry? He married a Jin Wangsun family. He married into the Jin Wangsun family and had already given birth to a daughter. When Wang Shi gave birth to his first daughter, her mother told Zang'er that the fortune teller told Zang'er that he said four words, saying that two daughters should be noble, and that your two daughters will be rich and noble in the future. Zang'er believed in this hexagram very much. How much did she believe in it?
Her youngest daughter has not yet been married, her eldest daughter has been married and has children. Zang'er decided to take Wang Shi from Jin Wangsun's house. Moreover, the history books do not record how she did this. I think it is difficult to do this. What is the difficulty of her? Because her daughter is already married, everyone knows that people have a kind of inertia, especially girls, as wives, mothers, and having married and having children. She has a
Inertia of life, it is very difficult for you to ask her to get out of it and come out again. At that time, Zang'er made a decision based on this hexagram, asking Wang'er to come out, and then took Wang'er away. Moreover, the Jin Wangsun disagreed. The Jin Wangsun had a long time, but this matter was still impossible to turn it off, and it finally came out. After coming out, Zang'er not only took her daughter out of the Jin Wangsun's house, but also sent her daughter to the palace of the prince (Emperor Jing of Han). This is incredible to think about today. I would never dare to reveal her previous marriage history. She would never say that if she had been married and had a child, she would send it to Taizhan, I think the prince (Emperor Jing of Han) would not accept it. This must have concealed this marriage history. Then she sent it to Taizhan, and it was very unexpectedly successful.
Voiceover: Zang'er, who once had a glorious family history, was unwilling to bet on her daughter, and she risked the extermination of the clan and deceiving the king, forcibly sent a daughter with a marriage history to the palace. As the saying goes, once she entered the marquis’ family, she was as deep as the sea. Can her daughter Wang Shi be favored by the prince as Zang'er imagined? Can Zang'er win this bet?
Judging from the fact that Wang Shi got married to the Jin Wangsun, her mother took her out and sent her to Tai* Middle School, there are at least a few points on Wang Shi:
First, cold. Think about it, as a mother, she was able to cut off the relationship between mother and daughter and came out resolutely. When she came out, she was not sure that she would definitely enter Tai*. She faced many variables. First, whether she could enter Tai*. Second, whether the hexagram that tells the fortune is effective is true. These are all unknowns. If you send it to Tai*, you can get the favor of the prince. None of these are known. Just after her mother said that, Wang Shi came out resolutely. This is what I mean by this woman, at least, is very cold.
Second, she is ambitious. Wang Shi is a very ambitious person. She is not satisfied with living such an ordinary life in the Jin Wangsun family. She wants to have a bright future.
Third, Wang Shi is adventurous. Look at how much risk she takes. What would happen if her marriage history is reported? I'm afraid it's too late to stay, and the Jin Wangsun family will not ask for it anymore. In this way, she went to the prince's palace. Her mother Zang'er not only sent Wang Shi to the palace, but also sent Wang Shi, an unmarried sister, Wang Erwei, into the palace, which means that she sent both of her daughters to the palace of Emperor Wen of Han (Emperor Jing of Han) to serve this one.
The prince, this prince was later Emperor Jing of Han. So, we are not focusing on Zang'er today, but Zang'er is not simple. Just as we are today's insurance, she has taken two insurances. Because no matter which of her two daughters is favored, she will be a winner in the future. If both daughters are favored, she is a big winner. This is a bold move by her mother. As a result, she will be favored after being sent to Taizhang.
Yes, let's look at the result. After Wang Zhi was sent to the palace, he gave birth to one dragon and three phoenixes, one prince and three princesses. Her sister Wang Erwei was even more amazing. She gave birth to four princes. So among the fourteen sons of Emperor Jing of Han, Zang'er's two daughters gave birth to five princes. Of course, there is a condition here, which is not mentioned in history books, but I think there is a necessary condition here, that is, both of her daughters must be very beautiful, and this is probably a matter of self-evident.
The conditions of the metaphor. Think about the situation that Wang Zhi got married, gave birth to a child, took her out, and sent her to the top, and was favored by the prince, and gave birth to another dragon and three phoenix. If Wang Zhi and her sister gave birth to four, she also gave birth to four, if these two daughters were not very beautiful, it would be difficult to achieve this. Of course, Zang'er dared to bet on this, so she bet on the beauty of her two daughters. This bet was successful.
Voiceover: Zang'er's adventure finally succeeded. Her two daughters were very successful in entering Taizha and both gave birth to a prince. Emperor Wu of Han was born under such circumstances. There are different versions of legends about the birth of Emperor Wu. This gave the emperor a lot of mysterious colors. So how did Sima Qian record the birth of this emperor in "Records of the Grand Historian"?
Wang Shi soon became pregnant after entering the palace. During the pregnancy, Wang Shi told the prince that she had a dream. What was this dream? It was called Sun Ting's arms, which means that she dreamed that a sun fell into her belly. This dream was very strange. In ancient China, like other nations in the world, our ancestors had always worshipped the sun. Today, we still use the sun to describe the emperor, so she told the prince that the prince said at that time that this was a noble victory, and this was a
A very noble sign. However, "The sun is in my arms" to dream of this dream, I think there may be these three possibilities: one is that Wang Shi is self-deprecating and his son. In our society, we rarely encounter any pregnant person dreaming of the sun falling into his stomach, because there is no such thing now that we can be emperors, and we will not dream of this sun. So I think this dream of the sun is likely to be Wang Shi is self-deprecating and his son herself. Because her son will become emperor later. Another one is that she dreams of the sun.
, It is possible that later generations deified Liu Luo. Because later her son became emperor, later generations agreed that she was in love with her. Another thing is that both of them are possible. There are both deifications of Wang Shi and deifications of later generations. Moreover, when we talked about Xiang Yu and Empress Lu, I did not mention unofficial history. However, Emperor Wu of Han, there are two unofficial histories about Emperor Wu of Han: one is called "The Story of Han Wu" and the other is called "The Biography of Emperor Wu of Han". This "The Biography of Emperor Wu of Han" is even more amazing, saying that
What is it? It is said that Emperor Jing of Han had a dream. He dreamed that a goddess took a sun and sent it to Wang Shi. It was Wang Meiren's mouth. Wang Meiren swallowed the sun. After swallowing the sun, she became pregnant for fourteen months and gave birth to a child. Of course, the statement "The Biography of Emperor Wu of Han" is unreliable, but the "Day of the Sun" is recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian" and "Book of Han" is true. But I think this is really related to Wang Shi's own momentum.
Under such a background, Liu Luo was born, and her mother was such an extraordinary woman. So by the time Liu Luo was four years old, that is, four years before Emperor Jing of Han, Liu Luo was made King Jiaodong. While conferring Liu Luo as King Jiaodong, Emperor Jing of Han also conferred his eldest son Liu Rong as the crown prince. The first purpose of Wang Zhi entering the palace was to achieve it. She entered the palace and gave birth to a dragon son, and was named King again. However, Wang Zhi's ambition did not end here, because after all, the gap between the position of King Jiaodong and the crown prince is still too much.
Chapter completed!